Weekly Roundup
May 4 – 8 2015

Cloud computing has become the latest federal market area to see one company make an acquisition move in an effort toward an increased footprint and added customer base.
QTS Realty Trust, an owner of 12 data centers across eight states, announced this week it struck a $326 million deal to acquire cloud and managed hosting contractor Carpathia and will add about 230 new federal and commercial clients to what would become a 1,000-customer base.
Carpathia holds a provisional ATO status under FedRAMP, the governmentwide program for approval of cloud computing services, and is a partner with other notable providers such as VMware in the federal cloud arena.
Peter Weber, Carpathia’s CEO and QTS’ incoming chief product officer, said both companies share the goal of “continuing the development of innovative hybrid cloud solutions for enterprise and public sector customers.”
Also this week, the Defense Information Systems Agency released a new list of cloud computing services eligible to host noncontrolled unclassified information for the military.
Twenty-three cloud services received the Impact Level 2 provisional authorization, which covers all data to be publicly-released and some private unclassified information.
“The granting of these provisional authorizations is an important step in our strategy to drive cost down by moving more of our mission data to the cloud,” said Terry Halvorsen, DoD’s chief information officer.
Each approved cloud service complies with FedRAMP’s moderate baseline, DISA says.
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The current state of cloud computing in the federal government and what could be in store going forward will be the item of discussion at the Potomac Officers Club’s “FedRAMP Forum” May 14 in Falls Church, Va.
Matt Goodrich, who leads the FedRAMP program for the General Services Administration, will address the breakfast event for GovCon and government executives, as will Claudio Belloli, FedRAMP’s cyber program manager.
Katie Lewin, one of FedRAMP’s architects in her former role as cloud computing director at the General Services Administration, and Chad Andersen, FedRAMP program manager at the nonprofit technology organization Noblis, will also offer their perspectives to the audience on what is to come for agencies and industry in cloud computing.
We are also excited for our June 16 “Internet of Things” summit, which also will feature a lineup of speakers from government and industry that will discuss the convergence of the Internet with appliances, automobiles and building systems.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience at the half-day event in McLean, Va.

Other speakers include Dan Doney, chief innovation officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Kevin Kampschroer, GSA’s director of federal high-performance green buildings.
Click here to register for the FedRAMP Forum and the Internet of Things summit, as well as to learn more about the POC and other upcoming events.